Cultural Psychosis: Spec-fic

The cultural psychosis had began, they thought, after the major war was lost and the popular president was booted from office in a temporary fit of spite. His successors seemed to take the booting as a sign that they shouldn't be such nice guys, regular guys despite at all, after all. So they didn't. And they weren't. It didn't help that the first real "nice guy" to come along and run for office was revealed to be a closet pedophile about halfway into his campaign. So there was that. And then, with the politicians and the pop stars going for the "bad boy who can get things done" image, advertising followed. The body wash was to get rid of the smell of smoke and liquor. The deodorant was so you could pole dance without those awkward moments.

Inspiration: StumbleUpon's link to "American Psychosis: From the page: "The decline of American empire began long before the current economic meltdown or the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. It began before the first Gulf War or Ronald Reagan. It began when we shifted, in the words of Harvard historian Charles Maier, from an" - Didn't actually read the article before writing.
Story Potential: Medium
Notes: So, okay, can kind of see this--then what?